Fall, 20 11 Volume 28, Issue 3 NYWFIA NEWS NEW YORK WELFARE FRAUD INVESTIGATOR S ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT S MESSAGE I d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for electing me President. I consider it a great honor to serve this great organization. I m hopeful that together, we can continue the work of our former board members and continue to grow and improve our organization. I would especially like to thank Jim Dadamio, Andrew Weiss, Laurie Fregeau and Tom Ryan for their service to NYWFIA. Without them, our organization wouldn t be in the terrific shape I inherited. One goal of mine is to leave it in even better shape for those who will follow. I d also like to express my thanks to our partners: OTDA, OCFS and OMIG. Their crucial support is key to NYWFIA attaining its goal of promoting program integrity through training and fellowship. If you are a new member I would like to welcome you, and encourage you to reach out to any board member or regional representative with your ideas on how to improve our regional trainings, annual conferences, merchandise, promotions, or what have you. This is, after all, your organization, and I am merely another member. We hope that you will also recommend us to your co-workers and bosses as a great way to obtain training and expertise in program integrity. Inside This Issue President s Message 1 Legislative News 2 Nassau County 3 Member of the Year 4 Wayne County 5 Genesee County 3 Regional Training Announcement 2 I have to stress the importance of collaboration. It is what makes this organization so great. You will find that our members, truly, go out of their way to help each other. There has never been a time when I haven t felt comfortable asking anyone involved with us for ideas on how to better do our common job of fighting fraud and abuse. It doesn t matter if we are talking about asking a presenter, one of Larry Pittz s wonderful staff members, calling someone in the OMIG for detailed advice, or contacting Janice Molnar for daycare fraud help, everyone has been more than helpful. Those who know me know I have a long history with NYWFIA, serving as a regional representative, and board member for many a years. My vision for our group is to involve the membership in what we do, how we train, and how we grow. Together, I believe we can continuously improve our organization
Page 2 NYWFIA NEWS Fall Regional Trainings Please keep in mind that the Fall 2011 Regional Trainings are coming up. We hope you will encourage your co-workers to attend. The dates and sites are: Thursday, September 27th at the Millennium Hotel in Cheektowaga, Tuesday, October 18th at the Crowne Plaza Syracuse, Tuesday and Wednesday, November 1st and 2nd at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, and finally, Wednesday, November 18th at the Albany Marriott. Please contact your local SDC to sign up, or, if you are an HRA employee, please contact Patricia Ponce at Poncep@hra.nyc.gov Legislative News By J. Melville There are a couple of recent developments on the Legislative front that we wanted to inform members of. There is pending legislation already submitted to Governor Cuomo which would change certain rules regarding Medicaid Investigations. The law is: S 3184-A LITTLE Same as A 5686-A ON FILE: 06/17/11 Public Health Law The Full Bill can be found at: http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/s3184a-2100 Please read and consider the consequences of this bill, and contact Governor Cuomo to voice your opinion. The Westchester Marriott, Tarrytown TITLE...Relates to procedures, practices, and standards for actions by the office of Medicaid inspector general and Social Services districts. PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To provide due process protections for providers and recipients of Medicaid who come under the scrutiny of the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG). Among other particulars, the law would make the following changes: FIVE BUSINESS DAYS PRIOR TO BEGINNING ANY INTERVIEW WITH A RECIPIENT AS PART OF AN INVESTIGATION, THE INVESTIGATOR SHALL PROVIDE WRITTEN NOTICE OF THE INVESTIGATION. THE NOTICE TION SHALL SET FORTH THE BASIS FOR THE INVESTIGATION; THE POTENTIAL FOR REFERRAL FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION; THE INDIVIDUAL'S RIGHT TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY A RELATIVE, FRIEND, ADVOCATE OR ATTORNEY DURING QUESTIONING; CONTACT INFORMATION FOR LOCAL LEGAL SERVICES OFFICES; THE INDIVIDUAL'S RIGHT TO DECLINE TO BE INTERVIEWED OR PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERVIEW BUT TERMINATE THE QUESTIONING AT ANY TIME WITHOUT LOSS OF BENEFITS;
NYWFIA NEWS Page 3 Genesee County New charges for city man A city man arrested last month for an elaborate scam where he allegedly stole more than $58,000 from an elderly woman now faces more charges after an investigation by Genesee County Department of Social Services. Myron Hartford and his wife, Marlene Hartford, are accused of defrauding Social Services and receiving $2,510 in Food Stamp benefits. Social Service investigators began looking at the Hartford s after Myron was arrested in January after a city of Batavia police investigation. Hartford is accused of conning a woman into giving him more than $58,000 during the past 13 months. He was charged with second-degree grand larceny. Hartford met the woman in 2007 and began doing odd jobs for her. He began asking her for money in 2009, telling her that his wealthy grandparents had died and left him three condominiums and $2 million, a police investigation revealed. Police said Hartford Genesee County DSS Building convinced the woman to give him money to travel to Pennsylvania and three other states to be in on closings of the properties. The scam came to a halt when the checks began to bounce. Social Service investigators reviewed records from September 2009 to September 2010 and found that Hartford never included the money he received from the woman on forms he and his wife submitted for benefits. Both Hartford s are scheduled to appear Monday in Town Court. Nassau County Fraud Case Investigations conducted by the Nassau County DSS Office of Investigations resulted in eight people facing welfare fraud charges, totaling more than $297,000.00. Gul Ahmed of Levittown received $107,000.00 in undeserved Medicaid benefits by failing to report all of his income. He was charged with seconddegree Grand Larceny, welfare fraud second degree and three counts of offering a false instrument for filing. Marwan Awad and Lana Nasnallah of East Meadow were charged with second degree grand larceny, welfare fraud second degree and six counts of offering a false instrument for filing. They failed to report income from a business they owned and received over $60,000.00 in undeserved benefits. Roopinder Ghai and Sachin Mehotra of Hicksville also failed to report income from a business that they owned, which resulted in $56,500.00 in undeserved Medicaid benefits. The couple were charged with second-degree grand larceny, welfare fraud second degree and offering a false instrument for filing. Ramin Tehrani and Diana Rubinov of Great Neck were arrested for stealing $53,200.00 in Medicaid benefits. They had unreported income and own two properties and were also charged with seconddegree grand larceny, welfare fraud second degree and five counts of offering a false instrument for
Page NYWFIA 2 NEWS NYWFIA NEWS Page 4 MEMBER OF THE YEAR NASSAU County Continued from Page 3 filing in the first degree. Lisa Kogut of Rosedale, Queens was arrested and charged with third-degree grand larceny, welfare fraud third degree, possession of a forged instrument second degree, and four counts of offering a false instrument in the first degree. Ms. Kogut stole more than $20,300.00 in Medicaid benefits by posing as a Nassau County resident while actually residing in New York City. She also failed to inform Nassau DSS that she was married and did not disclose her husband s income. Congratulations to Lisa Spear, of Jefferson County, our first Member of the year. Please remember that nominations are open from now until March 1st, 2012. To nominiate someone, simply mail a short essay indicating why you think this person should be made member of the year. E-mail the essay in PDF format to 1st Vice President John Melville, or any executive board member or regional representative. A committee of Regional Representative reviews entries, and sends three names to the executive board for a final vote. The Winner is announced at the Annual Conference Banquet. Jefferson County A caption is a sentence describing a picture or graphic. ALBANY and WARREN Counties $100,000 welfare cheat heads to New York prison (From Albany Times Union) A teary Angela Lopez, 37, of Colonie begged acting Supreme Court Justice Dan Lamont in Albany County Court not to take her from her ailing parents and her children, including the youngest who she breast feeds. The children are ages 1 to 19 years old. The woman is six months pregnant with her sixth child. "I do not deserve jail time and my kids do not deserve to be away from their parent who has been with them every day of their life," Lopez said. The diminutive woman said she feared her children will be sent to foster homes under state supervision while she was in prison. She had earlier admitted stealing $95,000 in Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits from the public by hiding major assets and working off the books. WARREN COUNTY OFFICIAL ARRESTED ON MULTIPLE CHARGES Warren County's commissioner of Social Services was charged with Please see Warren on page 6 Two Large Welfare Fraud Cases, including one of Employee Fraud.
NYWFIA NEWS Page 5 Wayne County During the evening hours of July 1st, 2011, The Wayne County Sheriff s Office teamed with members of The Lyons Police Dept. to complete an investigation that has been over a year in the making: In March of 2010, The Wayne Co. Dept. of Social Services received a complaint of illegal activity at The Sunoco Gas Station and convenience store located at 93 Geneva Street in Lyons. The complaint lead to an investigation by the Wayne County Sheriff s Department, and a year later, Sheriff s Detectives requested and received a Warrant to Search the business. Sheriff s Deputies were assisted by The Lyons Police and members of The Alcohol Beverage Control Board as well as from The Dept. of Social Services. The multifaceted investigation initially focused on members of the Sunoco Gas station accepting food stamps for unauthorized items such as alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. As it moved forward, Deputies were able to trade off food stamp benefits for K-2 (imitation Marijuana), smoking pipes, gasoline, beer, tobacco products and eventually purchased narcotic drugs with food stamp benefits. The store was giving cash back from food stamp transactions. Charged as a result of this investigation, dubbed Operation Sun Down, is: Store owner/manager Hamid Suhail, age 52, of Seneca Falls was charged with Conspiring to commit a crime, Falsifying Business Records, Petit Larceny, and Misuse of Food Stamps. Keeley Anne Davis, age 25, of Clyde N.Y. was charged with 4 counts of CPCS 3d 4 counts of CSCS 3d, 2 counts of falsifying business records and six counts of misuse of food stamps. Essex County (from the Plattsburgh Press) Republican)) ELIZABETHTOWN Essex County Department of Social Services told supervisors Monday about ongoing efforts to curtail public-assistance and Medicaid fraud. Social Services Commissioner John O'Neill gave the legal definition of fraud and told the Board of Supervisors that, through June this year, 100 referrals of alleged fraud have been brought to their investigative team. Eight out of the 100 cases were actual cases of welfare fraud, he said."so far, over $6,000 has been recovered." Many referrals come from the community. But, "most of the anonymous referrals we receive are unfounded," O'Neill said. Social Services is bound by statute to investigate every report in a sequence of prescribed steps that determine whether a person "knowingly obtains benefits fraudulently." The county has only two investigators, both of whom have backgrounds in law enforcement, O'Neill said, introducing Neil Mahoney and Gerry Allwell. (Neil is a Regional Representative, and Gerry is a long term NYWFIA Member.)
NYWFIA NEWS Page 6 Niagara County LOCKPORT A Niagara Falls woman admitted to defrauding the Niagara County Department of Social Services out of more than $25,000 following an extensive investigation, department officials announced Tuesday. The Investigative Unit of the department revealed that Holly Piazza, of Blanchard Drive, never reported that her children were receiving Social Security Administration benefits while she collected full assistance for them. She was arrested March 21 by Niagara County sheriff s deputies and charged with fourthdegree grand larceny, misuse of food stamps and filing a false instrument. She recently signed a confession of judgment for $25,211, which she must repay. In addition, she has been disqualified from the Food Stamp program for a year and from collecting cash assistance for 18 months, officials said. Warren from page 4 felonies and misdemeanors on Friday after police accused her of attempting to defraud her own department. Investigators from the Warren County Sheriff's Office arrested Sheila M. Weaver. According to police, Weaver altered housing assistance applications for her live-in boyfriend and other housing assistance applications for two acquaintances, who now live in Glens Falls but who had lived with her in Warrensburg. "No matter what position you hold, if you do something criminal, we will charge you," Warren County Sheriff Bud York said at a press conference following the arrest. Weaver, 47, was charged with two counts of second-degree forgery, a felony; two counts of second-degree offering a false instrument, a misdemeanor; and one count of misdemeanor official misconduct. Executive Board Members President Perry Wheeler 585-753-6637 perry.wheeler@dfa.state.ny.us 1st Vice President John Melville 585-753-6888 john.melville@dfa.state.ny.us 2ndVice President Michael Grennan 516-227-8570 michael.grennan@hhsnassaucounty.ny.us 3rd Vice President Marie Snyder 585-589-3110 marie.snyder@dfa.state.ny.us Treasurer Dan McCann 315-963-5454 danielm@oswegocounty.com Recording Secretary Diana R. Maldonado 718-901-5886 ruizma@hra.nyc.gov Corresponding Secretary Regina Williams 718-901-5855 williamsregi@hra.nyc.gov
New York Welfare Fraud Investigators Association PO BOX 36 OSWEGO, NEW YORK 13126 Regional Representatives Region One Niagara, Orleans, Erie, Genesee, Wyoming, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties. Mindy Herman, Brian Kane Region Two Monroe, Wayne, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, Yates, Steuben, Schuyler and Chemung Counties. Debbie Stanford, Fred Buck Region Three St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, Oneida, Herkimer, Onondaga, Madison, Cayuga, Tompkins, Cortland, Chenango, Tioga and Broome Counties. Mark Wierzbicki, Lisa Spear Region Four Franklin, Clinton, Hamilton, Essex, Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Fulton, Montgomery, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Albany, Otsego, Delaware, Schoharie, Greene, and Columbia Counties. Neil Mahoney, Paula Reid We re on the Web! Visit us at: WWW.NYWFIA.ORG Region Five Sullivan, Duchess, Ulster, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, Bronx, Queens, Kings, New York and Richmond Counties. Ilene Reff, Heather Griffin Company Name Street Address City, ST ZIP Code Customer Name Street Address City, ST ZIP Code